Shipbucket

By the end of the Second World War in 1945, the US Navy had figured out how to successfully operate carriers in wartime. The Essexs (which were designed in the late 1930s) proved satisfactory in the Second World War, and a total of 24 were built. But there was one problem; they were a pre-war design and they were going to have trouble operating the next generation of aircraft. There was the Midway-class of course, but only 3 of the 6 were actually completed, and the design was far from being mass-producible. After all, they did carry an armored flight deck and up to 7.5” of belt armor. So, in the fall of 1945, the Bureau of Ships began drafting designs for a mass-producible carrier capable of operating the next generation of aircraft. (This meant no armored flight deck or a thick torpedo belt.) Three separate designs emerged, and none of them were completely satisfactory. Scheme A ended up being bigger than the Midways and encountered stability issues, so it was thrown away in favor of Scheme B. Scheme B-1 solved all the issues, but it ended up being too slow. Scheme B-1 evolved into B-2 and could achieve a top speed of 31.8 knots, but it did not meet the minimal armament requirements.

It is important to note that Scheme A and B both used Essex's engine plants. So, it was instead proposed to take Scheme B and use something similar to the Midway's power plant to improve speed. The result was Scheme C-1, which had a top speed of 33.2 knots. But then the Board wanted it to carry more aviation fuel, so the ship had to be lengthened and carry additional armor. In April of 1946 Scheme C-1 became C-2. It carried more fuel and made up for all the shortcomings of the previous design, except for the part where it was too wide to transit the Panama Canal. The design featured 2 islands, an angled flight deck, and 4 side-mounted elevators. The 5” guns on the deck were moved down to sponsons on the hull, similar to what we see on the Midways. Requirements for small AA guns were removed and compensated with 16 x 3”/70’s, which were also mounted on sponsons. But at this point in time, the USS United States (CVA-58) had priority, and the two designs eventually merged into one.

Length Overall: 960’
Length at Waterline: 890’
Beam Overall: 160’
Beam at Waterline: 106’
Standard Displacement: 40,400 tons
Full Displacement: 54,500 tons
Speed: 33.1 knots

Aircraft: 53 total, 35 x F7F Tigercats, 18 x A2D Skysharks
Note: The aftermost aircraft is my terrible drawing of the A2D.
4 x elevators
3 x catapults
4 x Screws (Speculative)

26 x 3”/70 AA guns, 13 x 2
8 x 5”/53 (Mark 16), 8 x 1
Note: It does not specify what 5” gun would be used, I personally feel the Mark 16 is the most likely.
An unspecified number of 30-35mm AA guns would also be carried. The design never emerged but was supposed to be an anti-kamikaze weapon, and the biggest mount a man can operate alone.

Note: The electronics setup on the mast is completely speculative. The ref says a total of 8 x SPG-56 gun directors would be present on pedestals scattered around the gallery deck. The forward 3"/70 also has Mk 63 GFCS present.

8 x SPG-56 GFCS, mounted on pedestals on the gallery deck
1 x Mk 64 GFCS for the forward 3"/70 mount
1 x SK-2 Air Search Radar
1x SK-2 (I think)
1 x YE Aircraft Homing Beacon
Other miscellaneous equipment

Now for the actual drawing:



All my information comes from Friedman's U.S. Carrier's book, which Acelanceloet was nice enough to provide me a couple of pages from. I have attached them down below.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/ ... nknown.png

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/ ... nknown.png



Edit 1: Updated drawing, added reference material, updated specifications list

very interesting design of a not so well known carrier study. What about a top view of this ship? I think it would be very appreciated.

interesting study


I have a feeling that the aft structure should be a bit more forward and forward structure should be more aft. but also the sponson the forward structure is one, is shorter. thus moving the guns more aft, and thus a bit longer bow section.

If I am just looking at the artist illustration

Very interesting and nicely done.

Obviously based on the Midways. The two tower concept is purl Brit. The US Navy stuck with the same tower design and big wide funnel as log as they had carriers that burned hydrocarbon fuels.